Less than two minutes after the opening tap, Red Claws point guard Davion Berry messed up the coverage of a pick-and-roll and Coach Scott Morrison sent in a substitute.

Berry sat for the rest of the quarter and most of the next.

At crunch time in the fourth quarter, however, Berry more than made up for his early mistake. He hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer and followed it with a short jumper in the paint as the Red Claws rallied to a 138-131 D-League basketball victory over the Delaware 87ers on Thursday night.

A crowd of 2,243 at the Portland Expo saw the highest-scoring home game in Red Claws history. It was 106-104 after three quarters and 71-63 at intermission, both times with Delaware in the lead.

The victory was the seventh in eight games for the Red Claws, who play host to league-leading Sioux Falls on Saturday and Sunday nights.

“When some things happen like that,” said Berry, who finished with 12 points and six assists, “you just have to look at what’s going on in the game, cheer on your teammates and when your opportunity comes, make the best of it.”

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Delaware led by as many as 11 in the third quarter, and with six minutes left, by seven (125-118) before the Red Claws closed with a 20-6 run.

“We made our adjustments and picked up the defense,” said Coty Clarke, who led all scorers with 31 to go with 11 rebounds. “We took away what they wanted to do.”

In addition to Clarke and Berry, five other Red Claws scored in double figures, led by Omari Johnson with 22. Corey Walden had 18, Levi Randolph 17, James Young 14 and Malcolm Miller 11.

Jordan McRae led Delaware with 27 points and Sean Kilpatrick had 22.

Young’s appearance was the first by a Celtics player in 10 games. The Claws had been on the road for eight of their previous nine, and gone 7-2 over that stretch to move past Westchester into first place in the Atlantic Division.

“They started to buy into what we’re selling as coaches,” Morrison said. “It doesn’t mean we’re any kind of geniuses, but when you get 15 people on the same page, you can improve your performance and maximize your results. That’s what the guys did.”

Young said he will remain in Portland for both games against Sioux Falls. The Celtics want him to work on his defense and communication skills with teammates.

“They weren’t worried about offense,” said Young, who scored 15 of his 17 in the second half to go with eight rebounds, two assists and no turnovers. “I wasn’t really looking to score until the second half.”


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